In our co-pending application for Patent No. PCT/AU2005/000732, we describe a set of clamps for fixing to the side rail of an operating table. The clamps lock in different angular positions and have at one end a plate which is adjusted to lie next to the torso of the patient on the operating table. When the clamps are paired and both left and right hand side of the patients body are confined by plates, the theatre staff can arrange the patient in a suitable position for the operation in hand knowing firstly that the patient will not fall from the table even when there is rapid repositioning as a result of cardiac arrest, and secondly that the surgeon has good access to the operating site.
The prior art devices for contacting the patient are steel or aluminium plates either circular and rectangular about the size of a human hand but mote usually they are a vinyl covered, upholstered pad fixed to a metal plate which is in turn mounted on an arm for bringing it close to the patients body. While metal apparatus is easy to sterilise, the pads described above and clothing and drapes are more difficult. The vinyl surface of the pad is gathered, tucked or pleated to be a close fit on the convex curves of the pad. Laundering deals with reusable items while masks, gloves and dressings are disposable, but surface application of antiseptic to the vinyl pads may be effective, but sometimes it is not.
The previously known pads are an integral part of the patient support system and present a sterilisation problem for the theatre staff.